Overcoming the natural, understandable resistance to this process requires courage, strength, commitment, and perhaps most importantly, the support of a partner who is willing to go the distance, even when it can feel like the stakes are one's very survival.

Controlling your attention -- becoming more able to place it where you want it and keep it there, and more able to pull it away from what's bothersome or pointless -- is the foundation of changing your brain, and thus your life, for the better.

Descartes, father of modern philosophy, pointed to both the distinguishing characteristic of human beings and to the biggest curse of human beings when he made his famous statement, "I think. Therefore, I am."

For some of us, it may seem like a lovely idea that we are aspects of God in the process of evolution. It's an abstract idea, but an attractive one. It inspires us to think that we are part of a whole, larger than ourselves.

So, how do we get high, according to my definition? The secret is to use our own body as a vehicle for the very transformation we are looking for. We do it through movement and through breath. It is called yoga and meditation.

These are some of the keys I have discovered to showing up more fully and authentically, to engaging my "self" as an instrument of service and love in this world. They're the kind of things I think we need to figure out anyway.

Today, I entreat you, even if things are flowing beautifully, practice relaxing yourself from head to toe in the midst of your intense on-the-ball focus, and consciously melt deeper into gentle ease with each breath.

As a mental practitioner who helps people change their mental state from the consciousness of sickness to one of health, I've seen again and again how the removal of fear and fixation on the images of disease positively affects one's well-being.

Research in neuroscience has revealed a startling fact that revolutionizes much of what we humans have previously taken for granted about our interactions with the world outside our heads: Our consciousness is really not in charge of our behavior.

Though these steps seem subtle, you can trust that they are igniting transformational shifts within you. Stay committed to this process and invite the energy of the universe to support your assignments and spiritual growth.

We must remember to look up from our screens, not only to avoid getting hit by oncoming traffic but because of the possibilities that looking up offers, and to remind ourselves that we are a part of a much larger matrix of life upon which we all depend.

The responsibility to create a world that embodies the principles of transformation is ours. If we accept that responsibility as a gift and a blessing instead of a burden, we can be empowered to move freely in the direction of the promise of this time.